Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief – CPAR Tanzania

Canadian Funds making a difference in Tanzania

Canadians are making a difference in all corners of the world, especially in the Karatu District in northern Tanzania. It is the Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR) who are improving the lives of many Tanzanians through their numerous field-based programs. Established in 1984, this organization works with vulnerable communities and diverse organizations to overcome poverty. The organization has helped build healthy communities in a number of African countries:Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania. CPAR Tanzania works in Karatu District, one of 10 districts in Arusha region of northern Tanzania. It is situated some 150 km from Arusha town on the road to Ngorongoro and SerengetiNational Parks. The Karatu District has the fastest growing population in Arusha region with an annual growth rate of 3.8%. CPAR has been working in Karatu since 2002. After spending three days at CPAR’s main office inKaratu, I visited a number of their field-based projects and was witness to what difference they are making in the community. I spoke with a number of people who are benefiting from their projects and it is apparent that this organization with the help of Canadian funds are developing and improving lives even in the most unreachable areas. This region is home to the Iraqi ethnic group of mixed farmers who grow crops, keep livestock and maintain home gardens and trees.

As a Canadian non-governmental organization (NGO), CPAR receives funds from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In the Karatu District, CPAR is implementing a community development program that integrates Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education with Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Household Food Security. This includes providing support for tree nurseries, women’s beekeeping, energy saving stoves, conservation agriculture, chicken rearing and other economic activities. With matching funds from the Ryan’s Well Foundation and the Rotary Club of Arusha, CPAR is successfully implementing a Rainwater Harvesting, Hygiene and Sanitation program in many nursery schools in the Karatu District.

In brief, CPAR has four main objectives here in Karatu District:

  • to reduce the rate of environmental degradation and increase crop production through the adoption of improved natural resource management and conservation agriculture practices;
  • to increase and diversity sources of income, methods of food production and consumption;
  • to improve sexual and reproductive health of women, men, female and male adolescents; and to reduce the burden of waterborne diseases among children in primary schools.

Initially, when CPAR first started, it was a small officefrom which it implemented many numerous projects with a limited number of staff. The Country Director, Jean Goerzen,CPAR’s only Canadian representative, said that due to the amount of projects implemented by the country officethe office is currently expanding in size. On the ground here in Tanzania, is Jean Goerzen, while the rest of the staff are Tanzanian.

CPAR’s success in its projects is greatly attributed to the strategy it employs. CPAR Tanzania is establishing strong linkages with District line ministry personnel, local leaders and local extension officers by seeking their guidance and involving them as participants and facilitators in training and project implementation. In its projects, CPAR collaborates with District Agriculture, Forestry, Health and Community Development officers. This way, CPAR is guaranteed to build the capacity of its own staff with all this involvement and collaboration with other members. There are many accomplishments in CPAR’s ongoing projects. At the core of CPAR’s work, is the issue of sexual and reproductive health education which is cross-pollinated with all of its activities. This educational experience addresses all kinds of issues such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), family planning, safe delivery, early pregnancy, safe sex and so forth; all of these targeted at women, men, girls and boys.

I spoke with CPAR’s Public Health Nurse who informed me that the communities are very receptive of this education. “They want to know a lot and they always tell me what topics they want to cover,” she said. This is what makes CPAR different from all other NGO’s, not only does it work at the community level with people that need this sort of assistance, but it also incorporates this Sexual and Reproductive Health education in all its projects. With such multi-faceted projects, the people of the Karatu District undeniably have a brighter future.

CPAR Projects

CPAR is currently implementing a number of projects. Here is an overview:

  • Through the Natural Resource Management projects, CPAR provides seeds to women to set up vegetable gardens to improve house-hold nutrition and to generate income. As well, they facilitated beekeeping training for women and agricultural extensions officers. These women learned how to process honey and make beeswax candles and skin cream. Theythen returnto their villages, organize women’s groups and facilitate training for other women. They are now producing some very popular skin cream. CPAR collaborated with women consultants to train rural women in kitchen management which involves the construction of energy saving stoves, stools and cupboards; as a result, the women use more than 2/3 less firewood, they can sit down when they cook and have everything on nearby shelves. With improved stoves, there is an added health benefit; the emission of smoke is greatly reduced. As well, CPAR supports women’s chicken husbandry for improved nutrition and income-generation.
  • CPAR is also in charge of Formed Farmer Field Schools (Shamba Shule)with women and men farmers. These schools are designed to educate the farmers on how to strengthen the soil and water conservation and how to increase crop production through building and maintaining contours, planting elephant grass and maintaining cover crops and tree planting. This project is implemented with the collaboration of Agricultural Extension Officers. I spoke with some farmers who willingly informed me about their success; “we share the knowledge we learn here at Shamba Shule with other farmers in the area and everyone is pleased with the outcome.”
  • With financial assistance from the Ryan’s Well Foundation and the Rotary Club of Arusha, CPAR has successfully established rainwater harvesting infrastructure in 9 primary schools in the Karatu District. This involves the construction of two 30,000 liter concrete tanks at each school, setting up gutters along the roofs, placing drinking stands and hand-washing stands and providing drinking cups. These schools reported that since this has been established, there has been an increase in school attendance and a huge reduction in incidents of waterborne illness and stomach ailments among both the students and teachers. As well, students are now alert in class because they are not dehydrated. After speaking with some students, I can truly say that they are happy that they don’t have to travel long distances to collect water from contaminated water sources. Particularly, girls are relieved now that they are safe from running into ‘drunkards’ on their way to fetch water. CPAR also facilitated sexual and reproductive health education in rainwater harvesting schools in response to their concerns about primary school pregnancies.
  • CPAR has implemented a full-scale sexualand reproductive health education program for communities and schools targeting women, men, youth, teachers, school girls and boys. Their topics include FGM, HIV/AIDS, STDs, family planning, dangers of early and late pregnancy, safe delivery, safe motherhood, gynecological cancers, including breast and cervical cancer, nutrition and immunization. CPAR’s Public Health Nurse can see the improvement in the people; they are completely open about such topics, although they are considered taboo topics in Tanzanian society. CPAR uses videos and discussions designed to help adolescents and adults to build skills and confidence, to communicate and negotiate and protect themselves. With the use of all kinds of communication, such as theatre, the message is getting across through plays developed around HIV/AIDS, FGM and rape issues. CPAR works with the District Health Department to train FGM ‘safe’committees comprised of village leaders, teachers, health workers and community members to strengthen their capacity to protect girls and end this harmful traditional practice. CPAR is also encouraging school kids to produce pictures with messages regarded sexual and reproductive health, some of which are used for CPAR outreach banners and t-shirts.
  • They also host a growing support group of women living with HIV. These women have formed their own group called UMATU (an abbreviation for Love and Hope in Kiswahili, Tanzania’s national language) and they meet at CPAR’s office every Wednesday to discuss all kinds of issues they are faced with. It currently has 27 members and most of them are supported by CPAR through small-business loans, health education, good nutrition along with office space. They are women living with love and hope despite their HIV+ status; they have ambitions to educate the society about HIV/AIDS as a means of eradicating stigma and discrimination. They have stories of strength that everyone needs to know about (review document UMATU1-Overview and UMATU2-WomenProfile) to learn more about these women. After spending one full day with these women, my perspective on the essence of life has changed for the better.

At the end of my stay with CPAR, I left feeling pleased with what I saw and what I learned. The staff willingly shared every aspect of their work, informing me that there is so much that they have learned since 2002. For instance, the fact that women’s sexual and reproductive health affects every aspect of their lives and livelihoods is the main reason behind CPAR’s integration of sexual and reproductive health into all its work with farmers, beekeepers, energy saving stove training, income-generating and tree nursery groups. In order to encourage and enable women’s participation in project activities, it is essential to work around their busy schedules and be available when they have time. This often translates into long hours for CPAR staff and a somewhat slower pace for project implementation but the result at the end of the day is that large numbers of women participate. At CPAR, the door is always open and the staff is always welcoming; it is an atmosphere that is necessary for the kind of work done by this organization. I have not seen an NGO that works this closely with the community in places which many consider out of reach because they are far away. CPAR is currently actively engaged in fundraising to scale up its activities in this region; this organization deserves a sincere thank you from everyone. CPAR’s success has everything to do with its belief; they believe that there is tremendous capacity at community level to take information and modify and adapt it to suit the local environment.

To contact CPAR Tanzania, please contact the Country Director, Ms. Jean Goerzen, at , P.O.BOX 17, KaratuTanzania. Tel: +255 754 750426, +255 27 2534481, website:

Link
Development Studies

Health Studies

MultiMedia

-Documents

  • UMATU profile (CPAR-UMATU1)
  • Stories of Women of UMATU – Living with HIV/AIDS (CPAR-UMATU2)

-Video about CPAR Tanzania Projects

  • Overview of CPAR Tanzania
  • Interview A with Japhet Emmanuel, Program Manager, about CPAR Tanzania
  • Interview B with Japhet Emmanuel, Program Manager, about chicken rearing project of CPAR
  • Interview with Teacher at MageshoPrimary School about water consumption (Rainwater Harvesting Project) – Teacher John H Kilimba
  • Interview with Student #1 at MageshoPrimary School about water consumption (Rainwater Harvesting Project) – Constantino Karato
  • Interview with Student #2 at MageshoPrimary School about water consumption (Rainwater Harvesting Project) – Maria Moshi
  • Interview with Nurse Husna Hassan, CPAR Tanzania’s Public Health Nurse
  • Interview with Woman #1 about her work with CPAR Tanzania – Chicken Rearing project)
  • Interview with Woman #2 about her work with CPAR Tanzania – Beekeeping Project
  • Interview with Woman #3 about her work with CPAR Tanzania – Sexual and Reproductive Health education